It feels really great to be back in college after about 2 years of strenuous work in the industry, especially in a campus like NITIE where greenery is aplenty. It gives a delightful treat to the eyes of a naturalist like me. Classes started last week and with it a series of assignments and presentations. But the one lecture which really struck the chord was that of Dr. T. Prasad’s (or Dr. Mandi as he is popularly known) POM (Principles of Organization Management). His way of explaining the subject completely mesmerised the class.
It was supposed to be the introductory session and to our surprise the lecture started with the screening of “Another Brick in the Wall “by Pink Floyd. Lights off and the one by one the whole class joined the chorus. As the song finished Dr. Mandi rose from his chair and started asking our views on this song. It completely caught us off guard. The best part was how Dr. Mandi linked it to the present day state of Indian Education system. Nothing else could have been used as a satire on present day pedagogy and teaching in higher education in India.
Next Dr. Mandi started a talk on the qualities of a good businessman. He focussed on all but one quality, the ability to sell a product. Socho Becho, Becho Seekho, Seekho Socho! This slogan reverberated in the whole class. He also showed us a glimpse of annual event MANDI, when NITIE college students are sent to the streets of Mumbai to sell different products. This shows how practical experience certainly helps to understand the fundamentals better.
Another great learning was the way in which he reinforced the importance of team work, planning, communication, coordination and motivation by Tower Building Activity. Having gone through many highs and lows in the job helped me to relate to the importance of all above five qualities. As a Functional Lead of Pricing Product I was directly leading a team of four people. I was responsible for providing weekly updates on client issues for whom we do weekly meetings and I have seen how communication failure among team members may lead to misunderstanding and overall reduction in team efficiency.
It was a complete lecture filled with patches of humor, words of wisdom and real life experiences which I shall never forget.
